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Paul McCartney is one of the most recognizable names in the world, but the musician sometimes likes to have more anonymity with his projects. His lengthy discography becomes even longer if one includes all of the projects he did under various pseudonyms. 

Here are 5 pseudonyms used by Paul McCartney in his career

Percy Thrillington

Paul McCartney performs at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida
Paul McCartney | Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images

Percy Thrillington might be Paul McCartney’s coolest pseudonym, but he only used it once. McCartney used the pseudonym for the Thrillington album, an instrumental version of Ram, released in 1977. While McCartney produced the album, the arrangements were by Richard Hewson. In an interview with Club Sandwich, McCartney reflected on Thrillington, calling it a “little bit of indulgence.”

“What I didn’t realize is that nobody would want to release an album like that,” McCartney said. “Not even then. And no way would you get it released now. It was just a little bit of indulgence, a little bit of fun. I quite like to do silly things.”

Bernard Webb

In 1966, McCartney wrote the song “Woman” for Peter and Gordon. However, the Beatle wanted to test if a composition from the Lennon-McCartney duo could become a hit without their namesake. So, he composed the song under the name Bernard Webb. The track was a minor hit, and Webb’s identity was revealed only two weeks later. While McCartney’s experiment wasn’t a failure, it certainly would have performed better if his real name was attached to it. 

Apollo C. Vermouth

McCartney was a fan of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a comedy rock group formed in the 1960s. McCartney agreed to produce a song for the band but under the name Apollo C. Vermouth. The track is called “I’m the Urban Spaceman” and became the band’s only hit. The pseudonym was made up by The Bonzo’s lead singer, Vivian Stanshall. 

Clint Harrigan

Paul McCartney first used this pseudonym for Wings’ Wild Life sleeve notes. The notes detail how Wings came together and shared more info about the members who joined Paul and Linda McCartney. Instead of signing the notes with his name, McCartney decided to sign them with Clint Harrigan. 

“I thought I can’t just sign it Paul McCartney, having written about how great the group is, so I made up the name Clint Harrigan,” he explained. “It was the easiest way of doing it, to put someone else’s name there, do a little cartoon, and put it out.”

The name later resurfaced in a press release for McCartney’s company, MPL Communications. 

Paul Ramon

Paul Ramon is the pseudonym Paul McCartney often used early in his career. In their days as the Silver Beetles, the band decided to adopt stage names while on tour with Johnny Gentle. In 1969, McCartney used Ramon on the song “My Dark Hour,” a collaboration he did with Steve Miller. 

The “Yesterday” singer would also use Paul Ramon to check in to hotels so as not to alert the public that a member of The Beatles was staying there. The Ramones were inspired by McCartney’s pseudonym and used it for their band name. 

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